Thesaurus
sly
Synonyms and Antonyms of sly
1
clever at attaining one's ends by indirect and often deceptive means
crooked, deceitful, deceptive, dishonest, fraudulent, insinuating, knavish, Machiavellian, oblique, serpentine, shady, shifty, slippery, sneaky, treacherous, underhand, underhanded, unscrupulous
backhanded, double-dealing, hypocritical, insincere, left-handed, mealy, mealymouthed, smooth-tongued, two-faced
circuitous, circular, roundabout
clandestine, concealed, covert, furtive, hugger-mugger, secret, stealthy, surreptitious, undercover
2
given to acting in secret and to concealing one's intentions
artful, crafty, cunning, devious, foxy, guileful, slick, wily
close, closemouthed, reticent, secretive
deceitful, deceiving, deceptive, devious, duplicitous, trickish, tricky, underhand, underhanded
cheating, crooked, defrauding, dishonest, dissembling, double-dealing, knavish, two-faced
3
tending to or exhibiting reckless playfulness
Synonym Discussion of sly
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- a sly corporate raider
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- the cunning fox avoided the trap
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- a crafty lefthander
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- the wily fugitive escaped the posse
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- a tricky political operative
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- a foxy publicity man planting stories
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- elicited the information by artful questioning
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- slick operators selling time-sharing
Learn More about sly
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Dictionary: Definition of sly Spanish Central: Translation of sly Nglish: Translation of sly for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of sly for Arabic speakers
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